Glasgow, United Kingdom, 6 November 2023 – The Archipelagic and Island States (AIS) Forum held “Blue Innovation Solution: Ignite the Blue” which took place in Glasgow, United Kingdom on 6 – 7 November 2023. This event was part of the post-event activities of the previous High-Level Meeting of the AIS Forum held in Nusa Dua, Bali, 10-11 October 2023. Also, this was part of the AIS Forum’s continuous efforts to provide medium for productive discussions and exchange of ideas related to sustainable economic empowerment. In this stance, the implementation of the blue economy for archipelagic and island countries. Held for two days, this event invited multiple speakers coming from various fields such as academic, private sector, innovation, and development sectors, to local actors who are involved in the blue economy sector.
Head of the AIS Forum Secretariat, Riny Modaso in her opening remarks stated that strategic solutions related to innovation are needed to mainstream the blue economy as a potential sector for archipelagic and island nations. She emphasised that innovation is the driver of every meaningful change, and entrepreneurs play an important role in this process as translators of creative ideas towards their application in the real world. Therefore, a special attention is needed on research and development as well as support for entrepreneurs.
In collaboration with several institutions such as the Indonesian Student Association (PPI) Glasgow and the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (TBI), the first day of the Blue Innovation Solution began with a keynote speech by Dr. Alessandro Rosiello, Director of the Futures Institute Edinburgh. Rosiello, a professor of innovation and entrepreneurship, expressed his views on how to elevate innovation and entrepreneurship to achieve a sustainable future, and stressed the fact that our oceans provide various solutions to the global challenges we face. But to make the most of these opportunities, we must invest in innovation.
The first day of the event consisted of three (3) panel sessions with speakers coming from various institutions. The first panel session was hosted by Dr. Adam Bobbette from the Department of Political Geology, University of Glasgow. Bobbette gave a presentation entitled “Archipelagic Imaginaries and Earth Futures,” as a projection of the potential of island countries and archipelagos in the future. He highlighted sustainability and emphasised the importance of local knowledge and wisdom.
The second panel session was led by Astrid Dita from the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change. As Head of Digital & Tech Transformation for Indonesia, she talked on the topic of “Technology for Blue.” The topic focused on innovative solutions on overcome the unique challenges faced by archipelagic and island countries through the implementation of appropriate technology that is adapted to the geographical and economic conditions of these countries. Dita also raised important issues related to global attention which so far has not been given much attention to sectoral issues in island and archipelagic countries.
Closing the panel session on the first day was Viljami Yli-Hemminki from The Office for Gas and Energy Market United Kingdom. This third panel session took the topic “Navigating a Sustainable Future – Collaboration and Coordination in Marine Renewable Energy.” In his presentation, Viljami explained the important role of collaboration and joint work in efforts to maximize the supply and use of new and renewable energy.
Taking the example of what has been done by the UK itself, he said that strengthening initial collaboration will have a big, sustainable impact. The collaboration was carried out by involving various parties such as the government, developers, technology researchers and Offshore Hybrid Assets (OHA) which are of the most important part of using new and renewable energy.
On the second day of the event, there were three sessions focusing on issues related to Gender in Climate Justice, Research and Community in Sustainable Development, as well as a final session on Blue Governance. Each session presented speakers such as Dr. Tahseen Jafry as Director for Glasgow Caledonian University’s Center for Climate Justice, Dr. Daniela Diz from Heriot-Watt University and Hussein Zameel from Lincoln University.
Apart from that, there was also Prof. Stuart Jeffrey from Glasgow School of Arts, Dr. Elem Miranda from the University of Glasgow, Sih-Ying Hsieh from the Taichung Museum of Fine Arts, and Dr. Lisa McDonald, Researcher at One Ocean Hub.
Participants from various institutions attended the of Blue Innovation Solutions 2023. It is hoped that this activity can become a driving force for similar initiatives related to the implementation of the blue economy in other AIS countries. Most importantly, the acceleration of blue sector development in AIS countries in accordance with the focus of the AIS Forum (*).
